The mission of Israel’s Maccabi Healthcare Services is to provide lifelong comprehensive care for its members. Maccabi's existing technology hampered the ability to provide the desired level of service. For example, representatives could log their activities but the system could not capture complaints or other relevant data. With the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics® CRM, Maccabi is now better able to deliver more timely, accurate, and consistent service.
Business Needs
Maccabi Healthcare Services provides healthcare services to one of every four people in Israel. Its client members have access to a full range of facilities, including public and private hospitals, clinics, dental offices, and pharmacies. The company employs 3,500 physicians and operates over 160 branch clinics throughout Israel.
Maccabi has a heterogeneous IT environment. This includes an SAP implementation and the Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Portal Server 2003. A major drawback to these disparate systems was that it was difficult for administrative employees to view a member’s full history.
“If a member walked into a clinic and received an administrative service, the action would be logged into our system,” says Hanan Kramer, Director of Business Processes and Methods for Maccabi Healthcare Services. “If nothing was done, the member had a complaint, or offered other relevant information, then it wouldn’t get logged—it would just vanish.”
Kramer’s team created a plan to help improve the level of service to their members. In order to garner a 360-degree view of member data, information from multiple systems would be integrated into a single service application. IT managers also decided to boost employee productivity by folding some manual processes into an electronic solution.
“We thought that the right CRM [customer relationship management] system could help us achieve our objectives,” recalls Kramer.
Solution
For Kramer’s team, the selection of Microsoft Dynamics® CRM was a natural choice. “It was a strategic decision to go with them because we have so many Microsoft applications in our ecosystem,” states Kramer. “Our employees are familiar with SharePoint and Microsoft Office. Our evaluation showed us that Microsoft Dynamics was flexible enough to integrate with our systems and handle the large data sets that we use.”
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Microsoft Dynamics CRM has significantly improved the level of service we provide to our members because we respond to them quickly with accurate and consistent answers. |
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Hanan Kramer
Director of Business Processes and Methods, Maccabi Healthcare Services |
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Kramer’s team integrated Microsoft Dynamics CRM with Maccabi’s core system. The application hosts the company’s business rules regarding members’ rights, detailed member records, and financial transaction information. Every transaction that is performed in the legacy system is populated into the CRM platform via Web services. Moreover, Microsoft Dynamics CRM uses automated processes to move tasks from person to person through to completion.
The IT team also integrated Microsoft Dynamics CRM with Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003. “We had no problem joining the two applications,” says Kramer. “Our representatives use that functionality to quickly locate and use documents while serving members. We added a button in Microsoft Dynamics CRM to automatically copy and paste specific passages from eligibility documents that representatives read to the member.”
The firm also has full CTI and IVR integration with its Avaya phone system. The CTI technology integrates member telephone and computer interactions with customer-service contact center representatives. The IVR technology empowers computers to detect voice and keypad inputs.
At Maccabi clinics, members swipe a card to upload their data into a queue management system. The data flows to the CRM system so that employees pull up the member record before waiting on them.
Today, Microsoft Dynamics CRM is the standard service application across the organization for more than 1,000 users. “We have about 600 service representatives in our 160 branches who use it, as well as up to 60 representatives at our call,” explains Kramer. “Another 300 administrative personnel and managers use Microsoft Dynamics CRM as well.”
Benefits
Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides customer service representatives with a full, real-time view of member data. Consequently, each interaction picks up where the previous one ended. The mapping of processes to workflows boosts productivity by efficiently routing administrative issues and tasks to the proper person and tracking subsequent activities.
“Microsoft Dynamics CRM has significantly improved the level of service we provide to our members because we respond to them quickly with accurate and consistent answers,” says Kramer.
Noticeable Improvement in Member Service
- Members no longer have to repeat their history because representatives have access to comprehensive member data at their fingertips. This lowers member frustration and creates a more professional image for Maccabi.
- With the click of a button, Microsoft Dynamics CRM copies and pastes passages that call center representatives read to members from patient rights documents stored in Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003. This audit trail protects Maccabi while providing an exact account of what was said.
- The structured documentation of administrative calls dramatically enhances the accuracy and consistency of answers given to members. Discrepancies are easily identified and corrected.
- Using the business intelligence capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, managers can now identify and address service issue trends to improve performance.
Efficiency Gains Help Employees Do More with Less
- By mapping business rules to workflows, tasks are allocated to employees and tracked to completion.
- The user-friendly workflow engine empowers users to configure and change processes at will.
- The IT team uses a common set of skills and tools to integrate the CRM solution with other Microsoft systems.
